MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D), MISSISSIPPI: Well, I think it"s clear, Chris, that the White Citizens Council no better than Klansmen in a business suit. They intimidated anybody who promoted desegregation. Any kind of effort was met with absolute hostility. So the governor"s initial response was unfortunate. His opinion of the group does not bear out the facts, if you look at them. And I think his stepping back, saying, I was wrong, is clearly because he was caught.

MATTHEWS: Do you think that"s what he thinks.

THOMPSON: Well, it"s his opinion, but the record does not reflect it.

Yazoo City, Mississippi, was just like every other small Mississippi town. They resisted any desegregation effort. The federal government had to sue every school district in the state of Mississippi to desegregate. It wasn"t because of local leaders, it was because federal government came to states like Mississippi and said, Look, you can"t have separate and unequal schools. So my governor"s description of Yazoo City, Mississippi, during the "60s is totally inaccurate.

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THOMPSON: Well, absolutely.

As you know, I live in Mississippi, been there all my life. Those kind of voices, I remember as a child. And, clearly, it was the federal government who stepped in and stopped state governments from discriminating against African-Americans.

MATTHEWS: So, is all this talk about states" rights we"re hearing now, nullification, secession, all this babble, is it just another code for, we don"t like civil rights? Is that what they"re talking about, Congressman?

THOMPSON: Well, you know, again, somehow, people are trying to rewrite history, to say that this era in our past was not nearly as bad as people think it is.

MATTHEWS: Yes.
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THOMPSON: But, clearly, you have to talk to people like myself, who had to endure separate, unequal and all of that.

MATTHEWS: Well, why are they doing it? Why are they doing it?

THOMPSON: Well, I just think it"s part of this revisionist theory in history that, somehow, Southerners didn"t do as bad toward African-Americans as you think.

And I just think that the governor, by stepping back now, saying, well, I misspoke, this organization was a bad organization, is because now MSNBC and other stations have taken the cover off him and he can"t just say these things and continue to be in the public venue.

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THOMPSON: Well, there"s no question about it. Race is still a problem in this country, just like some people say the White Citizens" Council was a neighborhood watch organization, rather than a terrorist organization.

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